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Posted 09/19/06
Timothy Andreadis (Photo by Joseph Mehling '69)
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Thank you Provost Scherr.
In the past, many Student Body Presidents have used this occasion, appropriately enough, to welcome the freshman class. But reflecting back on my freshman convocation - between H-Croo, orientation trips, and the people I had met - I already felt pretty welcomed. Therefore I really want to speak to you all this morning about a topic that is close to my heart that as a freshman I wish I was more prepared to address. It is one which may challenge us, but I hope it will also energize every single person here today to make Dartmouth a stronger and safer environment for everyone on this campus.
If you haven't already, you will hear administrators and many others telling you that the class of 2010 is special, and without question you certainly are. You have the highest SAT scores of any Dartmouth entering class; you are the most diverse, and so on. But there is one statistic that may not be mentioned, at least not as frequently. The class of 2010 has the highest percentage of women ever to be in an entering Dartmouth freshman class at 51.6 percent.
With this greater percentage of women we might assume, or at least hope, that there would be parity between women and men in terms of controlling campus space. Having a class with over 50 percent women might also lead to the belief that by outnumbering men, even slightly, women will feel welcomed and safe in every space on campus.
However, I would argue that having an entering class with the highest percentage of women ever does not necessarily mean that all women on this campus will feel welcomed or comfortable in every space at all times.
As anyone who identifies as a 'minority' or member of an 'underrepresented group' in American society can tell you, being in the majority, statistically, does not mean that you will not still feel marginalized. Being labeled a 'minority' has less to do with numbers and more to do with the way in which group identities are established within a cultural and social discourse. This discourse positions groups in relations of power that run deeper than any so-called 'political correctness' can every really correct.
To put gender relations at Dartmouth into a little perspective for you, I would like to revisit some of our history.
In 1972, Dartmouth became the last college in the Ivy League to become coeducational. The D-plan was originally created in order to placate those who opposed the idea of women entering the Dartmouth domain. The D plan cleverly allowed for the male population on campus to remain the same, while slowly adding women to the mix.
The place of women on Dartmouth's campus prior to 1972 was a curious one at best. Women from other schools would be bused up to Dartmouth, and they would spend time with their dates during the big weekends of the term. Women were little more than visitors on campus, although their presence was certainly embraced, for obvious reasons. When women finally arrived on campus in 1972 as full-time students, they were met with a fair amount of hostility. Since the 1970s, gender has been a hot button issue on campus, a fire that was fueled on a few occasions by internal fraternity documents that spoke about women in a degrading manner.
To this day, there are those alumni who remind us that not only was Dartmouth once a land roamed exclusively by men, but whom also identify the exclusion of women as a core element of the institution's identity.
In many ways I think that the Dartmouth community - administrators, faculty, staff, and students alike - have found difficulty making their message of inclusivity heard. On the one hand, I think many correctly recognize that Dartmouth does not even come close to resembling the school it once was in terms of this dynamic on campus. Therefore to constantly rehash tales of the 'Old Dartmouth,' may only give validity to the belief that Dartmouth might truly be a male-dominated school. On the other hand, many men and women alike might tell you that Dartmouth has no 'gender troubles' and therefore, there is no discussion that needs to occur.
Of course, for many women on campus, it's no problem to go out and have fun in a space controlled by men. But often the discourse and behavior which permeates these spaces, intentional or not, have a tendency to make others feel uneasy or even threatened.
Degrading women is still a ritualized item on Wednesday night's agenda in too many fraternity houses. While dialogue and behavior in fraternities does not cause sexual assault, the dynamic in these spaces often presents a misleading representation of what is actually taking place. Let me clarify. Most men in these spaces can walk away from Wednesday's meetings knowing that the discussion may have verged on being inappropriate, but with the full knowledge that the intention was not to encourage aggressive or coercive behavior toward women. However, for those men who have engaged in coercive sexual activity the message is clear - all of my buddies seem to be doing the same thing and therefore there is nothing wrong with my own behavior.
My intention this morning is not to identify the severity of less-than-favorable gender relations on campus. Rather, I hope to energize you to determine for yourselves the place of women at Dartmouth and work to improve it.
When I ran for Student Body President this past spring, the issue that I highlighted, first and foremost, was sexual assault and I want to challenge us all to make even bigger steps toward eliminating sexual assault on Dartmouth's campus.
Although some of my examples this morning cite fraternities as being implicated in many of these events, it is important to understand that sexism exists everywhere and placing blame on the Greek system only serves to further divide campus and it stalls the dialogue around sexual assault by wrongly isolating discussions to only one aspect of campus life. Many men at Dartmouth have fought for better gender relations on this campus. Not only have men become sexual assault peer advisors and mentors against violence, but fraternity presidents and respected leaders within those houses have stood up against sexual violence and have openly addressed the issue- pledging that such behavior will not be tolerated in their house. Many more men on this campus have stood out by standing up to those who have caused problems for their female friends. Such men have established their integrity as people and especially as men, not by degrading women, but by calling out their male peers who do.
Today, in the world of 2006 Dartmouth proudly boasts the Sexual Assault Awareness Program, Mentors Against Violence, the Center for Women and Gender, and a number of other notable and important programs, administrators, and faculty committed to supporting women and continuing dialogues around sexual assault.
But sexual assault is by no means something which only affects women. Men on this campus have found themselves in frustrating and life-shattering situations after a night of heavy drinking and poor decision making, surprised to find a blitz in their inbox weeks later from the Committee on Standards with the charge of sexual assault against them. Dealing with the Committee on Standards is one thing, managing the guilt and regret is another. By engaging in a dialogue around sexual assault as a community, we serve to educate both women and men by providing women with resources and men with clear examples of inappropriate behavior.
If you get nothing else from my speech this morning, I hope you have learned that as official members of the Dartmouth community you will inherit more from Dartmouth than the granite of New Hampshire in your muscles and your brains. You inherit a history that has not always been kind or favorable to women on this campus. And while women undergraduates may outnumber the men in larger numbers than ever, the majority of professors, the majority of high-ranking administrators, and I, the student body president - are all male. I don't think we should fire male professors or burn bras in the middle of the green in protest, but I do think we need to be vigilant about recognizing, naming, and reporting incidents in which women on this campus feel uncomfortable, unsafe, or threatened. We don't have to call it rape, sexual assault, misogyny, or even sexism, but let's call it something and let's say it loudly!
While you might expect this speech to end by my asking the women of the class of 2010 to help make this college even better for the women who will come after you, I ask ALL of you, and especially the men, to recognize that gender dynamics on this campus can not be improved until we as students take a stand. Report incidents of sexual violence, stand up to those who are acting inappropriately, and make sure that your friends are safe throughout the night. Now is the time that we can raise the standards and hold one another accountable in a way like never before. I hope you will join me in this effort.
Thank you all and I look forward to a great year.
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